Girls basketball: Katie Hamill’s ‘wild’ shots lead Crystal Lake Central past Cary-Grove

CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake Central’s Katie Hamill instinctively tossed the ball over her head with two hands underneath the basket early in the first quarter, and the ball found its way through the hoop to the delight of the Tigers’ bench and fans.

For the Tigers’ junior guard, who was fouled on the play and converted the three-point play with a free throw, it was a night of wild but productive shots against Cary-Grove.

Hamill tossed up a couple of more no-look shots that made it into the bottom of the basket, and Central escaped with a 40-36 victory against the Trojans in their Fox Valley Conference game Friday.

Hamill finished with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds for Central, which won its fifth straight game to improve to 10-9 overall and 5-3 in the FVC.

Central coach Derek Crabill has seen some of Hamill’s wild shots before. And although it’s not something he preaches, he has all the confidence in his talented guard.

“She will practice some of those off-balance shots, and it’s not necessarily what I’d coach a young basketball player to do, but she does it because they are fun for her,” Crabill said. “Are they what most coaches are looking for? No. But I trust her to understand her own balance and position on the court.

“She knows whether or not she can get the ball up to the rim or not.”

Hamill admitted even she gets surprised when some of them go in.

“Sometimes I’ll practice those weird shots randomly, and I don’t actually know if they’re going in,” said Hamill, who is a three-year varsity starter. “I’m like, ‘Wow.’ ”

As it turned out, the Tigers ended up needing each one of those unconventional field goals from Hamill to hold off the Trojans, who went into the half trailing 24-8 after an ice-cold second quarter in which they missed all 10 of their shots.

Cary-Grove (9-8, 4-4) went almost 13 minutes without a field goal before a steal and layup by Kennedy Manning with 6:10 left in the third quarter. That was followed immediately by a 3 from Annika Nordin.

The Trojans outscored the Tigers 28-16 in the second half and eventually got within 37-33 with 1:45 remaining in the fourth on a 3 from Malaina Kurth. Hamill, however, answered with two free throws to push the lead back to 39-33 with just under a minute left.

The Trojans then got a 3 from Manning to cut Central’s lead to 39-36 with 6.6 seconds to go. But Hamill again came up big for the Tigers, as she was fouled and sank 1-of-2 free throws with 4.9 seconds to put the game out of reach. She finished 7 of 10 from the free-throw line.

Cary-Grove Tony Moretti was proud of his team’s resilience and fight after a difficult first half in which much didn’t go right.

“The one thing you know is Cary-Grove is never going to quit playing, and tonight we proved that again,” he said. “We struggle in first halves, and then we’re chasing in the second half when we should be playing like that the entire game.

“We’ve just to get more consistent, and that’s the sign of a young team, and we are a young team.”

Nordin led the Trojans with 10 points and nine rebounds, followed by Emily Larry with nine points and eight rebounds. Manning and Sam Skerl each had five points.

For the Tigers, Leah Spychala had nine points and seven rebounds. Ella Madalinski had five points, while Katie Barth secured six rebounds and Katie Svigelj had five.

Hamill said the team has bonded during their winning streak.

“Our biggest thing is focusing on the team,” Hamill said. “We want to make sure that on and off the court we’re always connected.”